All for a bottle of Scotch
by not really sane fairy
Summary: Frank Longbottom lands himself in quite a pickle, all because of Truth or Dare.


**This was written for The Marauder's Era Competition over at HPFC. The scenario was Frank Longbottom gets a detention and prompts were Shiny, Controlling, Before, Speciality and Memorised. Enjoy!  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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Frank really, _really_ didn't want to do this. But he had to. His Gryffindor pride was at stake. What was he thinking? He never picked dare, _never. _Was that why his dorm mates were that cruel when picking his dare? To make up for the lost time or something? Frank shook his head. Distraction wasn't good. He had trouble walking without falling as it was, the last thing he needed was…

BAM!

Out of nowhere, a suit of armour appeared and Frank crashed right into it. Groaning at his misfortune, he got up, Reparo'ed the thing and quickly ran in his intended direction before Filch, or worse, Peeves appeared, only to fall on his nose a few metres later. Damn.

As he was just about to get up, he heard movement and froze on the spot. Luckily had had a foresight to Disillusion himself before he stepped out of the common room, else he would run like crazy now and most likely get caught.

The person around turned out to be Filch. Frank cursed his luck. Anywhere Filch went, that mangy cat of his was always only a few steps behind, and he was positive his disillusionment wouldn't get past that cat. Changing his mind about freezing, Frank got up silently as he could with that infamous clumsiness of his, and half walked, half ran in the other direction. To be frank, he wanted to run until he was out of breath, but look at how well that turned out.

The fact he had to turn around held him back considerably, but after a few more minutes he was back on track to professor McGonagall's office. Once there, he unlocked the door with a spell he had memorised from the last time he visited her office and slowly snuck inside. Looking around, he frowned. The Marauders said that the liquor cabinet was in the left rear corner, but he couldn't see it… Inspecting the back wall more thoroughly, something shiny caught his eye. It was a tin, red and gold checkered tin, to be exact. Frank's eyes brightened, professor McGonagall's ginger newts was the reason he came to visit his Head of House more often. Helping himself to some, Frank happily munched and marveled at the taste for a bit.

After his taste buds were satisfied, Frank returned to his task. He couldn't see anything in the place he had been told he was supposed to look, but then again, these were the Marauders they were talking about. But then again, Frank knew the Marauders, and sending someone in the wrong direction when booze was involved was not their style. Looking at the wall with squinted eyes, Frank remembered something he saw in a Muggle spy movie, and this particular trick involved a secret niche hidden behind a bookcase. Picking a random book in the bookcase, Frank was elevated when indeed a secret niche appeared in the left rear corner. When he took in the contents of it, Frank's eyes widened. Rows and rows of Scotch were in there, some even sported accessories that for a lack of better name Frank named affection stickers. Taking one unlabeled bottle from the shelves, Frank put the book back where it belonged and watched, mesmerized, as the bookcase returned to its original place.

Happy that his mission was a success, Frank completely forgot that it was McGonagall's speciality to be in the right place at the right time. Once he exited out of the office, one confused and bewildered professor just happened to stand in front of the aforementioned office. Slumping his shoulders in defeat, for a moment he completely forgot that he was still disillusioned and made a run for it, but before he could register what happened, an Impedimenta jinx made its way to him and he fell down. Professor McGonagall wasted no time in taking her precious whiskey back to her office and once she returned, she wore a downright murderous expression on her face. She performed a counter spell for Frank's disillusion and when she saw who dared to take her possession, she faltered for a bit. Once she got her bearing back, she said: "Mr Longbottom, I am most disappointed in you. You of all students… " she trailed off, unable to believe that one of her favourite students was able to do such a thing.

_Busted, _Frank thought. There was no way he would get out of this one. "I'm really sorry, Professor, but you see, we were playing truth and dare and…" he stopped mid-sentence too, seeing the 'angry McGonagall' face expression return back to its place. "It won't happen again," he added, trying to soften the blow.

"See to it that it won't," his Transfiguration professor said, obviously controlling herself. "Now, in case it wasn't obvious, detention, Longbottom. For a week, starting tomorrow in my office. Be here at 6 p.m. sharp."

"Yes, Professor." Smiling sadly at her, Frank began walking back to the Gryffindor common room. One week? He could survive that. At least she hadn't thrown him to Filch. And with luck, he'd be able to swipe a few Ginger Newts.

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**A/N: Rate and review please!  
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